Mobile voice self service system

ABSTRACT

A Mobile Voice Self Service (MVSS) mobile system that includes an MVSS mobile device, on which a VoiceXML browser is implemented directly. The VoiceXML browser may request a VoiceXML application from a VoiceXML application server and process it. A client system may include the VoiceXML application server that the VoiceXML application is requested from. Upon request, the VoiceXML application may deliver the requested VoiceXML application to the VoiceXML application browser. A vendor media resource system may provide advanced Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP) services, such as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) or Text-To-Speech (TTS), to the VoiceXML application that is being processed by the VoiceXML application browser. A call data manager may also be implemented on the MVSS mobile device and may provide call data that, in conjunction with data from the VoiceXML application server, may authorize access to advanced Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP) services.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a Mobile Voice Self Service (MVSS)system for processing an application via an application browser that isimplemented on a mobile device. More particularly, the present inventionrelates to an MVSS system for processing a VoiceXML application via aVoiceXML application browser implemented directly on an MVSS mobiledevice.

In telephony, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is a technology thatallows a computer to detect voice and touch tones in a telephone call.

Many companies employ systems based on IVR technology to process androute telephone calls originating from their respective customers.Examples include telephone banking, televoting, and credit cardtransactions. IVR systems are typically used to service high callvolumes, reduce cost and improve the customer experience.

If a customer dials a telephone number that is answered by an IVRsystem, the system executes an application that responds to thecustomer/caller with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio files.These audio files explain the options available to the caller and directthe caller on how to proceed. The caller selects an option by usingspoken words or Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DMTF) tones, e.g., telephonekeypad touch tones.

Modern IVR applications are structured similar to World Wide Web pages,using languages such as VoiceXML. Other languages may include, forexample, SALT or T-XML.

Since many companies do not have their own IVR platforms, they typicallyturn to outsourcing companies or vendors to either host their VoiceXMLapplication or manage the application as a whole. An example of such ahosted environment is shown in FIG. 1

The hosted environment shown in FIG. 1 may include end user devices,such as a mobile device 105 or a land-line phone 110; hosted vendorsystems 115; and client systems 120. The mobile device 105, such as acellular phone, PDA, or iPhone, and/or the land-line phone 110 maycommunicate with the hosted vendor systems 115 via a telephony interface125. The telephony interface 125, in turn, interacts with a VoiceXMLbrowser 130, a MRCP TTS Server 135, and a MRCP Speech Recognition Server140, all of which are part of the hosted vendor systems 115.

The VoiceXML browser 130 may be an extension of a web browser thatpresents an interactive voice user interface to the user and thatoperates on pages that specify voice dialogs. These pages may be writtenin VoiceXML language, which is the W3C's standard voice dialog markuplanguage, but other proprietary voice dialog languages may be used. TheVoiceXML browser 130 may present information aurally, using pre-recordedaudio file playback or using Text-To-Speech (TTS) software to rendertextual information as audio. Further, the VoiceXML browser 130 mayobtain information from the end user of the mobile device 105 and/or theland-line phone 110 by speech recognition and keypad entry, e.g., DTMFdetection.

The VoiceXML browser 130 interacts with the MRCP TTS Server 135 and theMRCP Speech Recognition Server 140. MRCP stands for Media ResourceControl Protocol, which is a communication protocol that allows speechservers to provide various speech services, such as speech recognition,speech synthesis, and TTS to its clients. The MRCP TTS Server 135provides TTS services to its clients, and the MRCP Speech RecognitionServer 140 provides speech recognition services to its clients.

Computer Telephone Integration (CTI) data are sent from the hostedvendor systems 115 to a CTI Management Server 145. CTI is a technologythat allows interactions on a telephone and a computer to be integratedor coordinated. As contact channels have expanded from voice to email,web, and fax, CTI has expanded to include the integration of allcustomer contact channels (voice, email, web, fax, etc.) with computersystems. Common functions that may be implemented using CTI are, forexample, call routing, call information display with or without usingcalling line data, phone control (answer, hang up, hold, conference,etc.), automatic dialing and computer-controlled dialing, etc.

Furthermore, application requests are sent from the VoiceXML Browser 130to a VoiceXML Application Server 150, and the requested VoiceXMLapplication is delivered from the VoiceXML Application Server 150 to theVoiceXML Server 130. The CTI Management Server 145 and the VoiceXMLApplication Server 150 are both part of the client systems 120.

More and more people use intelligent mobile devices, such as cellularphones, PDAs, or iPhones, as a means of communication. These intelligentmobile devices become more and more sophisticated due to, for example,increased computing power or memory capacity, and due to, for example,the availability of mobile Software Development Kits (SDKs), such asJava Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) or Apple's iPhone SDK. This maylead to decreased reliance on teleservices companies that are built onstandard telephony technology. More particularly, this may lead todecreased reliance on hosted environments for IVR applications, forexample.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, in exemplary embodiments, overcomes the abovedisadvantages and other disadvantages not described above. Also, thepresent invention is not required to overcome the disadvantagesdescribed above, and an exemplary embodiment of the present inventionmay not overcome any of the problems described above.

Thus, in one aspect, the present invention is directed to a Mobile VoiceSelf Service (MVSS) system that includes an MVSS mobile device, a clientsystem, and a vendor media resource system. The MVSS mobile device hasan application browser to request and process an application. The clientsystem has an application server to deliver the requested application tothe application browser. The vendor media resource system providesadvanced Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP) services to theapplication that is being processed by the application browser.

In another aspect, the present invention is directed to an MVSS hostedvendor system that includes a MRCP Speech Recognition Server, a MRCP TTSServer, and a Media Resource Gateway. The MRCP Speech Recognition Serverprovides Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) services to an applicationbrowser that is implemented on an MVSS mobile device and that processesan application. The MRCP TTS Server provides Text-To-Speech (TTS)services to the application browser, and the Media Resource Gatewayfacilitates communication of the MRCP Speech Server and/or the MRCP TTSServer with the application browser.

In yet another aspect, the present invention is directed to a method forincorporating image map interactions to accept user input in a VoiceXMLapplication. A Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is embedded within aVoiceXML document, and the URL loads a fragment of HTML code thatrepresents an image and an accompanying image map defined via a map HTMLtag.

The present invention may allow companies requiring only a basic,DTMF-only IVR application to host their VoiceXML application on theirexisting web infrastructure and provide users of mobile devices accessto the same IVR functionality that would normally need to be provided byan outsourced vendor. Companies requiring more advanced features as partof their IVR application may still benefit from the present invention bymoving the call handling and VoiceXML processing off of a hostedplatform and only using an outsourced vendor to perform advancedfeatures such as speech recognition, natural language, ortext-to-speech. Alternatively, the present invention may allow companiesto move both basic, DTMF-only IVR applications and IVR applications withadvanced features off of the hosted platform to their existing webinfrastructure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

In the following section, the invention will be described with referenceto exemplary embodiments illustrated in the attached Figures, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a hosted environment for IVR applications as it maybe known in the related art;

FIG. 2 illustrates a Mobile Voice self Service (MVSS) system inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates an MVSS VoiceXML Navigation situation in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates incorporation of multimedia data into MVSS inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 illustrates incorporation of image map interactions in a VoiceXMLapplication in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

Given the rapidly increasing processing power of mobile devices and theavailability of mobile SDKs, a hosted application browser of the relatedart, such as a hosted VoiceXML browser, may be moved directly to an enduser's mobile device. In other words, an application browser, such as aVoiceXML browser, and other, associated components may be deployed as amobile application and implemented on the mobile device to allow aVoiceXML application to be processed directly on the mobile device. Thisconcept may also be known as Mobile Voice Self Service (MVSS).

MVSS may provide the benefit of reduced cost or, in the case of simpleapplications, no hosting cost to companies, for example. In addition,the end-user features that MVSS provides may allow applications tobecome more user-friendly.

FIG. 2 illustrates an MVSS system in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

The MVSS system shown in FIG. 2 illustrates a mobile device 205, clientsystems 210, and vendor media resource systems 215. An ApplicationBrowser 220 may interacts with a Call Data Manager 225 and a MediaResource Gateway 230, all of which may be included in the mobile device205. The mobile device 205 may communicate with the client systems 210or the service vendor's media resource systems 215 via a broadband orwireless connection. The mobile device 205 may be, for example, acellular phone, a PDA, or an iPhone, and may operate, for example, in aCDMA or GSM network. The mobile device 205 may also include a GPScomponent 235 to provide, for example, location-based services to theuser of the mobile device 205.

The client systems 210 may include a VoiceXML Application Server 240 anda CTI Management Server 245, whereas the vendor's media resourcessystems 215 may include an MRCP Speech Recognition Server 250, a MediaResource Gateway 255, and a MRCP TTS Server 260.

The Application Browser 220 of the mobile device 205 may be a VoiceXML2.1 compliant browser with a minimal memory footprint and minimalprocessing overhead. Unlike the VoiceXML browsers used in a hostedenvironment in the related art, the Application Browser or VoiceXMLbrowser 220 may only need to be able to handle one call. Therefore, therequired processing power is significantly reduced. In addition, theVoiceXML browser 220 may be able to handle a majority of the call flowrequired to provide an IVR application to the user of the mobile device205. The VoiceXML browser 220 may send application requests to theVoiceXML Application Server 240, and the requested VoiceXML applicationmay be delivered from the VoiceXML Application Server 240 to theVoiceXML browser 220.

The Call Data Manager 225 may communicate important telephony events tothe client systems 210, in particular to the CTI Management Server 245.Such telephony events may include, for example, set up, deliver(ringing), establish (answer), clear (hang up), end, hold, retrieve fromhold, conference, transfer, forward, etc. When a legitimate call isbeing processed on the mobile device 205, the call data provided by theCall Data Manager 225 may be used, in conjunction with data of theVoiceXML Application Server 240, to authorize access to advanced MRCPfeatures. The advanced MRCP features may include automatic speechrecognition (ASR) that may be provided by the MRCP Speech RecognitionServer 250 or Text-To-Speech (TTS) that may be provided by the MRCP TTSServer 260, for example. Proper authentication may be important becauseMRCP features may be charged per transaction by the vendor. Also, theCall Data Manager 225 may be important with respect to transfers.Transfers that usually depend on a carrier's advanced features may needto be implemented by other means, so it may be necessary forUser-to-User Information (UUI) and other call data to be transferredout-of-band.

The Media Resource Gateway 255 may provide advanced services, such asASR or TTS to the application, by bridging communication between theVoiceXML browser 220 and the MRCP services. As part of authorizingcommunication to media resources, MRCP requests from the VoiceXMLbrowser 220 may be directed through the Media Resource Gateway 255. Thegateway layer may handle authentication and then host the MRCPcommunication through the established channel. The MRCP SpeechRecognition Server 250 may provide the ASR services to the VoiceXMLbrowser 220, and the MRCP TTS Server 260 may provide the TTS services tothe VoiceXML browser 220. If the mobile device 205 is capable ofprocessing speech or generating TTS on its own, resources not requiringvendor-specific handling may be passed off to the mobile device 205 bythe Media Resource Gateway 230 thereby saving the application provideradditional advanced service fees.

To facilitate the configuration of MVSS components prior to running aVoiceXML document, a Mobile Voice Self Service configuration file may beused. This file may be an xml-based configuration file that contains theconfiguration settings of the Media Resource Gateway 230 and the CallData Manager 225 as well as the URL of the intended VoiceXML target.

Having a unique file type for voice applications targeted to mobiledevices may also be useful in allowing seamless integration of MVSS intoa web environment. A mobile device may automatically launch the MVSSapplication when the user follows a link that provides MVSS content. Theformat of such a file may be defined, published and validated viastandard xml validation methods.

Simple blind transfers may be accomplished by allowing the MVSSapplication to access the phone's system APIs (Application ProgrammingInterfaces) to simply dial the transfer number. More complicatedtransfers may require functions that may be unavailable within the realmof the mobile device's capabilities on the mobile carrier's network. Toimplement these transfers may require dialing a toll-free number thathas carrier-advanced features and then utilizing CTI data to execute thetransfer.

The following may be exemplary applications of MVSS that may beadvantageous to, for example, the end users, vendors, service providers,companies and clients involved.

With respect to access to IVR applications, in the case of MVSS, theuser may be allowed to access applications via web URLs rather thanphone numbers. A client's site may list individual URLs for eachsubsection of their application, giving the user direct access tobilling or technical support features, without the need for the clientto have individual phone numbers for each service. Having direct accessto the VoiceXML interpretation allows the user to easily “pause” theIVR, and it may be relatively simple to provide a complete range ofcontrols a user would normally be accustomed to with other media, suchas fast forward, rewind, etc.

Instead of having to rely on the application's menu repeat options, theuser may interact with the browser instructing it to scan through aprompt in reverse, go back to the beginning of the current prompt ormenu, or even go to a previous menu and either accept the user'soriginal response again or provide new input. To support such features,when it comes to application reporting, it may be beneficial to createnew VoiceXML events that the browser can handle, so reporting canaccurately reflect the user's navigation. FIG. 3 shows an exemplaryillustration of MVSS VoiceXML Navigation.

Having direct access to the call flow data may allow implementinguser-defined hotkeys or “bookmarks” in a VoiceXML application. If theuser would like to return to a portion of an application at a latertime, he or she may press a hotkey capture button, which may thensuspend the running VoiceXML application. The MVSS browser may store thecurrent state and the input required to reach that state. After speakingor entering a bookmark identifier, the application may resume normally.At a later time, the user may request access to the bookmark, and thismay instruct MVSS to load the application and automatically proceed tothe bookmarked state if modifications to the applications do not preventit. In the case where the application has been modified, MVSS mayprovide a message to the user indicating the bookmark needs to beupdated; present the user with the prompt where the application changed;and wait for the user to indicate that he or she has once again reachedthe point in the application the user wishes to bookmark.

Location-based services is another area in which having the MVSS browserrunning directly on the mobile device may be of advantage. Providinglocation-based information to customers may mean to add more value inthe mobile realm. Rather than relying on complicated data exchanges todetermine the location of the caller, the browser may directly accessthe device's GPS or tower based coordinates and pass them on to theapplication server. This may all be done as part of the initial requestto the application server. Self-service applications may then be cateredfor the caller's current location prior to even the first prompt.

Multimedia resources, as illustrated, for example, in FIG. 4, may bereferenced within the VoiceXML application, allowing the mobile deviceto display supplemental data during the progress of the call. This maybe utilized by providing an image of the caller's current billingstatement when the caller requests payment information; by providing avideo clip of the steps required to reset a satellite receiver when thecaller is requesting technical support; or even by launching a web pagewith a registration form when the caller wants to enroll in some specialprogram. There may also be the branding aspect that may be important tomany companies, so a company logo, customer notifications, oradvertising may be displayed on the mobile device while working withtheir IVR.

In the VoIP world, it may be common for a conference call to bepresented along with video conferencing or a shared desktop for apresentation. MVSS may add functionality in the voice self-service worldbecause the multimedia may also interact back with the IVR. For example,if the caller has a question about their bill, MVSS may display thecaller's recent billing statement on the screen and allow the user toselect the billing line-item the caller has a question about and say“What is this charge”? Again, due to the fact that the VoiceXMLinterpretation is happening locally on the caller's phone, the act ofselecting an item on the screen may be passed to the browser as inputwithout complex data exchanges. This sort of interaction may besimplified because MVSS is just a single system that accepts multipleforms of input.

MVSS technology may be an industry standard that may be implemented bymobile device builders as part of their devices' core features.

There may be several versions of MVSS to support various mobile devicearchitectures. Open development environments like Java ME may aid inthat sort of development, but each device may require its own specialdevelopment for its unique features or hardware.

Further, image map interactions as a means of accepting user input maybe incorporated in a VoiceXML application. In FIG. 5, a URL embeddedwithin a VoiceXML document may load 510 a fragment of HTML coderepresenting an image and an accompanying image map defined via a mapHTML tag. An image may be displayed 520 on the display of the user'smobile device with clickable regions that are specified by the imagemap. Therein, a clickable region of the displayed image may be mapped530 to a user input string of a URI that may be formatted as, forexample, wtai://mvss/prompt_id/input.

A prompt_id that is used in the clickable regions may be comprised ofsession information and a prompt identifier in order to associate aclick event to the correct form input. Input provided for a clickableregion may be either a DTMF tone represented as <dtmf-1> or a textstring, for example. A URI with a protocol specified as wtai://mvss/ maybe directed to the VoiceXML browser and processed internally by thebrowser.

As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the innovativeconcepts described in the present application can be modified and variedover a wide range of applications. Accordingly, the scope of patentedsubject matter should not be limited to any of the specific exemplaryteachings discussed above, but is instead defined by the followingclaims.

1. A Mobile Voice Self Service (MVSS) system, comprising: an MVSS mobiledevice comprising an application browser to request and process anapplication, wherein the mobile device is a cellular phone; a clientsystem comprising an application server to deliver the requestedapplication to the application browser; and a vendor media resourcesystem to provide advanced Media Resource Control Protocol (MRCP)services from a vendor to the application processed by the applicationbrowser; wherein the MVSS mobile device comprises a call data managerthat provides call data; wherein the vendor media resource systemcomprises a media resource gateway that receives the call data from thecall data manager and, in conjunction with data from the applicationserver, authenticates access to the advanced MRCP services by the MVSSmobile device.
 2. The MVSS system as claimed in claim 1, wherein theapplication browser comprises a VoiceXML browser.
 3. The MVSS system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the application comprises a VoiceXMLapplication.
 4. The MVSS system as claimed in claim 1, wherein theadvanced MRCP services comprise at least one of Automatic SpeechRecognition (ASR) and Text-To-Speech (TTS).
 5. The MVSS system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the MVSS mobile device further comprises aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) component to provide location-basedservices to a user of the MVSS mobile device.
 6. The MVSS system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the MVSS mobile device is operable in atleast one of a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network and a GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM) network.
 7. The MVSS system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the client system further comprises a CTImanagement server, and wherein the call data manager is operable tocommunicate telephony events associated with a telephone call of theMVSS mobile device to the CTI management server.
 8. The MVSS system asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the media resource gateway is operable toprocess MRCP requests from the application browser.
 9. A Mobile VoiceSelf Service (MVSS) hosted vendor system, comprising: a Media ResourceControl Protocol (MRCP) Speech Recognition Server operable to provideAutomatic Speech Recognition (ASR) services to an application browserimplemented on an MVSS mobile device and process an application whereinthe mobile device is a cellular telephone; a MRCP TTS Server to provideText-To-Speech (TTS) services to the application browser implemented onthe MVSS mobile device and process the application; and a Media ResourceGateway to facilitate communication of at least one of the MRCP SpeechRecognition Server and the MRCP TTS Server with the application browser;wherein the MVSS mobile device comprises a call data manager to providecall data to the Media Resource Gateway that, in conjunction with datafrom an application server, authorize access to at least one of the MRCPRecognition Speech Server and the MRCP TTS Server.
 10. The MVSS hostedvendor system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the application browsercomprises a VoiceXML browser.
 11. The MVSS hosted vendor system asclaimed in claim 9, wherein the application comprises a VoiceXMLapplication.